Thank you to all who attended my sessions at ILA in St. Louis! I hope you left with many ideas to implement in your classrooms. As promised, here are the PowerPoints from each session. The handouts remain on the conference website. Please keep in touch and let me know how your lessons go. Enjoy!
Reading Response Workshop PP ILA 2015
20 Fun Reading Response ILA 2015 (1)
Thank you for a wonderful session at ILA and for posting the slides.
You’re welcome, Lydia! Enjoy the rest of summer and keep in touch.
I really took away a lot from your session at ILA. I would love to blog about it and share this information with my teaching friends. However, I do not want to share something that is available for purchase or that you do not want shared. Please let me know what type of information is okay to share, if any. Thank you so much for sharing this information and your time with us.
Hi there, Krisanna! Forgive me for not replying sooner– I went straight from ILA to another conference and am just now checking the site. I’m so glad you got so much out of the session at ILA! I would love it if you mentioned me in your blog, and as you said, direct people to the books or this site… I do have some free content posted here and intend to post more in August. Thanks again and please keep in touch! Marilyn
Hi, Marilyn,
I am implementing the RR and the RR analysis paper this term with two teachers who did not go to ILA. We were wondering how to assess the analysis paper especially the self reflection essay.
Thanks for your help.
Hi Terri,
In the past I have created a rubric for the paper with categories for structure (including length and organization), depth of reflection, conventions, and the five examples with 1-2 sentences each. As with all reflections, it’s hard to assess if a student is “reflecting enough.” You might want to set a minimum number of those brainstorming questions to be addressed. There are no wrong answers per se, but of course we want the student to put real effort into it. That’s why, for me, length is important– did the student write at least a page of reflection, without repeating or using a bunch of cliches? And even though it’s a reflection essay, there should still be a logical organization (a beginning, middle and end). In general, as long as the students put effort into their self-analysis, organization, and grammar, they do okay on the rubric for me. You could also require them to do a written brainstorm and draft, and put a category for “Process” on the rubric– I often do that as well. Hope that helps! Let me know if you have any other questions and thanks for emailing. Have a great start of school!
Thanks for the information on grading the reflection essay. We love the RR entries and have, for the first time, one of the best tools for helping students pick the best quotes and discussing them deeply. Thank you so much for a great ILA 2 hour presentation. It was exactly what I needed to get this excellent teaching/thinking strategy up and running.